Beatrice looked thoughtfully at Julia, remembering what Hazel had said about dementia. She seemed so sharp, though, other than this lapse.
Meadow said, “Well, maybe you only meant to fill it up and forgot. Unless you have a leak in your gas tank, but I don’t smell any gasoline. Should I take you to the gas station, then?”
“No, thank you. No, I’d rather Jim take care of it tomorrow sometime. We don’t need to go to the trouble of lugging a gas can out here. At least I know what the problem is. Now, if you wouldn’t mind taking me home? I’m exhausted,” said Julia.
Meadow said, “I’m sure you are! You’re doing all the quilting things and on top of it, you’re working on your wonderful blog!”
A shutter fell across Julia’s eyes at the mention of the blog, before she gave a rather forced grin.
They’d climbed into Meadow’s van when Meadow said cheerily, “You know, exhaustion can do funny things to people. I know my memory has been in terrible state before when I was really tired. One time I went to the grocery store and was in such a fog that I left my groceries in the trunk.”
Beatrice said, “That’s easy to do, I think.”
“Yes, but I didn’t realize my mistake until the next morning when I was looking for milk to put in my cereal! I had to throw half my groceries out,” said Meadow, shaking her head as she started the car.
Julia didn’t seem to know exactly how to respond to this surprising declaration, so she just gave a jerk of a nod, mouth shut firmly in a line.
Beatrice said in a sympathetic voice (and in the hopes of having some time to ask Julia questions on the short ride home), “Who wouldn’t be exhausted with the events of the last week? I’ve been tired myself and I barely knew Henrietta. But she was in the same guild as you, Julia. I’m sure you were both good friends.”
Julia started a bit at the word friends. “Well, I wouldn’t say we were especially close, but of course we spent a good deal of time together, being in the same guild and whatnot. She could be a little prickly sometimes, you know. But I tried my best with her. I even hired her to redecorate my house, since it seemed like she needed the money. She was a widow and I don’t think she had an excessive amount to live on.”
“Did she do a good job?” asked Beatrice.
Julia gave a short laugh. “When she was decorating and not messing around, she did.”
“That’s funny,” said Meadow frowning. “Henrietta didn’t strike me as the lazy type.”
Julia didn’t respond to this.
“I suppose sometimes you did visit with her?” asked Beatrice in an innocent voice. “I’m only saying that because someone mentioned they heard you arguing with Henrietta recently.”
“They’re lying then,” said Julia fiercely from the back of the van. “I was at the quilt show the whole time. I didn’t even find out about Henrietta’s death until the next day.”
Beatrice said, “I didn’t mean they saw you there the same day. Perhaps the day before?”
Julia said, “That must have been Orrilla talking. Of course Orrilla would say something like that. She’s trying to distract from the fact that she had problems with Henrietta.”
“So you weren’t at Henrietta’s house?” asked Beatrice.
“I was. But I was merely returning a pair of shears that I’d accidentally taken home from one of the last guild meetings. I’d meant to return them to her for some time and kept forgetting,” said Julia.
Beatrice said, “But you were said to be arguing with her.”
“Again, that must be Orrilla Bush’s interpretation of events. She’s twisted things around to keep any suspicion off of her. She’s the one you should be talking to, not me. I overheard a phone conversation between Orrilla and her husband when we were both in a parking lot with our windows open. I could hear her speaking perfectly and she was so engrossed in her call that she didn’t even seem to realize that I was anywhere near,” said Julia.
“While I was in Henrietta’s house, I spotted a doodle she’d drawn on her desk. It looked like you, Julia. With daggers pointed at you. Is there a reason Henrietta would have done such a thing?”
Julia gave a startled laugh. “Not unless she was unhinged. And you’re seeing something that simply isn’t there. It must have been a doodle of a character that looked like me. It doesn’t mean it represented me.”
Meadow finally said impatiently, “Back to the point. What did you hear when you were listening in?”
“It sounded very much to me that Henrietta had found another way of making money, besides redecorating people’s houses. Blackmail. From what I gathered, while Henrietta was doing her design work in Orrilla’s house, she’d uncovered something about Orrilla’s husband. Something that they didn’t want to have uncovered,” said Julia.
“Such as?” prompted Beatrice.
“Something to do with Mayor Ted?” asked Meadow with a gasp. If her local Dappled Hills government was tainted somehow with corruption, it would likely send Meadow over the edge.
“From what I could gather, it did have to do with the mayor’s office. It sounded as if it were something to do with improper bids for government-related work. At any rate, it was something that would either end Ted Bush’s career or possibly put him in court if it got out,” said Julia in the tone of someone making a point. “So you can see why I think Orrilla might want to distract from her own involvement with Henrietta.”
“Is there anyone else that you think Henrietta might have been at odds with?” asked Beatrice. “Anyone that she might have had some information on?”
Meadow asked, “Or anyone who let Henrietta work for them? Mercy. I’m so glad that I don’t have enough extra money to have a decorator.”
Beatrice smiled to herself. As if Meadow would have anything to hide, anyway. Aside from the proposal quilt, Meadow’s life was pretty much an open book.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt that Henrietta could be holding something over Hazel’s head,” said Julia dryly.
“About Hazel?” asked Meadow incredulously.
Beatrice gave her a reproving look.
“If I had to guess, I’d think that Henrietta was redecorating Hazel’s house (which, incidentally, could use a lot of help) and she saw something there that she knew didn’t belong to Hazel,” said Julia.
“How do you know this?” asked Beatrice sharply. “Did someone tell you about Hazel?”
“No. No one had to. I saw something in Hazel’s house that I knew didn’t belong to her. It was a phone that belonged to a friend of mine. She’d been looking everywhere for it. It had a very distinctive case,” said Julia.
Meadow pulled into Julia’s driveway. “But why? Why would she do something like that? She doesn’t look like someone who needs extra money.”
“I think she just likes to have extra money. Hazel might not be the most careful spender in the world. She likes to have fun. I think Hazel swipes things every now and then and sells them online to supplement whatever income she has,” said Julia, a disdainful note in her voice.
Beatrice turned in her seat to look curiously at Julia and asked, “What did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
Beatrice said, “I mean, what did you do when you saw the phone there? Did you tell Hazel that your friend was looking for it?”
“I told her that it was so nice of her to have found my friend’s phone and she would be so delighted to hear that it had been found,” said Julia. “She looked very glum after that.”
Beatrice said, “And you had Henrietta decorate for you, too. But she didn’t try to blackmail you over anything?”
“I’m not the type of person to allow myself to be blackmailed,” said Julia crisply. “Thanks for the ride.”
Beatrice watched her as she strode up her driveway. “Maybe instead of allowing herself to be blackmailed, she decided to murder the source of her trouble.”
“I’d believe anything right now. I think the Cut-Ups are all falling to pieces,” said Meadow as she backed the van up out of the driveway and headed back down the street.
“Julia certainly seems to be,” said Beatrice. “She was convinced that she had filled her car with gas.”
“Oh! I remember what I was going to tell you. I took another look at Julia’s blog. I can really tell a difference in the last four or five months. She used to really have it together—she posted three times a week, always on the same days. She had lots of people commenting and special events like giveaways. It looked like she had a lot of different sponsors. But in the last few months, her posting became really erratic. And, according to Ramsay, Julia had removed a couple of long, ranting blogs that people had talked about on other blogs.”
“So even her behavior on the blog was different,” mused Beatrice. “But what does it mean?”
Meadow said, “I guess it’s what Hazel was saying. Julia may be in the early stages of dementia.”
“Well, it certainly could be that. But it seems sort of odd, doesn’t it? I’m wondering if it couldn’t be something else. Because, think about it—why would Henrietta blackmail Julia over dementia? Isn’t that an exercise in futility in some ways?” asked Beatrice. “It’s not as if it were a condition that could be hidden for very long.
Meadow said, “But Julia said that Henrietta wasn’t blackmailing her.”
“Julia also said that she filled up her car with gas. I don’t think we can really rely on Julia to give a clear perspective. I’m thinking that maybe Henrietta discovered something else about Julia. What if she found that Julia was taking drugs? Henrietta seems like the sort of person to go snooping around. Maybe she listened in on phone conversations and read private papers and poked around in medicine cabinets. Clearly the decorating business was a cover for her blackmailing activities. Maybe she was in Julia’s medicine cabinet and discovered drugs there,” said Beatrice.
“What? Like drug paraphernalia?” asked Meadow, gasping. “Or cocaine, something like that?”
“Or something much simpler. Maybe Julia is addicted to prescription drugs. That could explain the glazed look that Hazel was talking about and could explain why she got confused about the gasoline. Better yet, it would give Henrietta something to hold over Julia’s head,” said Beatrice.
“Except that Julia said that she wasn’t the kind of person to be blackmailed.” Meadow shivered.
“Which is why she might have felt pressure to get rid of Henrietta,” said Beatrice.
“Julia seemed to think that Orrilla and Hazel might have something to do with it all,” said Meadow. “What do you think about that?”
“I think that Orrilla might be very protective of her standing in town if she thought that someone was going to spill the beans about her husband’s involvement in corruption. And I think Hazel wouldn’t be thrilled to own up to the fact that she steals things and sells them online. It’s like any small town—people want to hold onto their secrets and keep others from learning about them. I can imagine all of these women giving into a blackmailer. It’s tougher to imagine them as murderers,” said Beatrice.
“Exactly!” said Meadow, thumping her steering wheel. “That’s what I always say. I can picture them quilting, not killing.”
“But I can more easily picture them getting really angry and frustrated with Henrietta and seeing red and giving her a shove. Then they could have pushed that machine on top of her once she was on the floor. Henrietta wasn’t a very big woman,” said Beatrice.
“Did Hazel have anything else to add?” asked Meadow. “It seemed like you were talking for a while.”
“She did mention that Minerva Lundy didn’t like Henrietta. But we already knew that. I wonder what Henrietta might have had on Minerva to make her dislike her so much,” said Beatrice. She glanced at her watch. “All right, that’s it for me tonight. I need to take care of Noo-noo and then get something else to eat since I just snacked at the Sew and Tell.”
“All right. I’m tired, too. Although I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep a wink knowing that your daughter and my son will be engaged day-after-tomorrow!” Meadow gave a happy squeal as Beatrice got out of the van.
Beatrice hadn’t had the chance to look at the weather forecast for a while and was relieved to see clear skies when she got up the next morning. It looked like the perfect day for a picnic. It would have been awful if their plans had to be scrapped again. Wyatt had texted her the night before to say he was back in town and to make sure their Saturday picnic was still on.
Beatrice had just finished getting ready when her phone rang.
Meadow’s voice started without the usual greeting, “Beatrice, can you call Piper?”
Beatrice felt her heart thump in her chest. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, everything’s wrong! She told Ash that she thought they should have a Monday or Tuesday night out since she felt she wasn’t going to make much headway with her paper grading and logging on Sunday. She’s absolutely snowed, apparently. But getting engaged on a weeknight, after they’ve both been working?” Meadow sounded agitated. “What’s romantic about that?”
“I agree, but you have to keep in mind that Piper doesn’t realize that she’s about to become engaged. Or, rather, that she’s about to be proposed to. She thinks they’re just celebrating a run-of-the-mill birthday,” said Beatrice.
“I know, I know. But can you call her? Tell her life’s too short to grade papers all the time?” pleaded Meadow.
Beatrice sighed. “I don’t think I can really tell her that, Meadow. But I can give her a call and tell her I can come over and help her grade papers and get them recorded online for her. That would likely be the best way to handle it.”
Meadow sounded relieved. “Could you? Do you think you could go over now so she feels better about Sunday evening?”
“I’m about to go out with Wyatt, actually, so Sunday after church and lunch might be better. I’ll call her,” said Beatrice. “And now, Meadow, I’ve really got to go.”
She hung up the phone and then dialed Piper’s number. Ordinarily she didn’t get involved in Piper’s business, but aside from the proposal, it seemed as though she needed a lot of help right now.
“Mom?” asked Piper as she picked up the phone.
“Hi, sweetie. I was just calling to check in on you. Well, I was calling to check in with you and make you an offer. Meadow and I were just speaking and she was saying that you’re so snowed with grading and recording grades that you don’t even think you can celebrate your birthday tomorrow. I wanted to offer my help. If you’ve got a sheet with all the answers, I can definitely help you grade. I can help you record grades, too. Consider me your assistant,” said Beatrice with a laugh.
Piper’s voice registered concern on the other end. “That’s very sweet of you, Mama, but I thought you had plans for today. Aren’t you and Wyatt going on a picnic? And, of course, I’ve got that fundraiser at the school I’ve got to go to.”
“That’s why I think tomorrow morning would be best. I’ll give you a happy birthday hug and then we can get to work. We should get it all done in half the time and then you’ll be free to go out for your birthday ... or stay in, either way.”
Piper paused and then said, “Mama, I don’t usually take a lot of help, but if you’re offering, I’ll take it! Thanks so much. Now please—go! Enjoy your picnic.”
Wyatt had insisted on getting all of the food for the picnic himself so Beatrice really had nothing to do but to wait. And there wasn’t much waiting involved—Wyatt was there on time at eleven.
He gave her a warm hug and then stood back to look at her. “Everything okay? I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”
“Aside from murder and mayhem? It’s all good. But let’s just focus on our day together today. I’ve been looking forward to it,” said Beatrice with a smile.
She grabbed her keys and pocketbook and was walking to the door when Wyatt said, “How about if we take little Noo-noo, too?”
Noo-noo’s ears perked up and her mouth opened in a wide doggy smile. If she didn’t exactly understand every word, she certainly got the gist of them.
“Do you mind?” asked Beatrice. “I feel as if I’ve seen just about as little of Noo-noo as I have of you!” She quickly put together a bag for Noo-noo with some dog food and treats and a water bottle and bowl.
They climbed into Wyatt’s car, Noo-noo happily bounding into the front seat, and Wyatt drove off.
He drove to a favorite spot of theirs to walk and picnic. It had a beautiful park and wildlife area near the parking lot and a fairly easy trail led to beautiful views of the mountain vista.
“It’s so quiet here for such a beautiful day,” said Beatrice with surprise.
“That’s good for us! I think there are some big games on television today, so maybe everyone decided to stay home and grill and watch them,” said Wyatt.
They got out of the car, Beatrice holding Noo-noo by the leash and Wyatt carrying the picnic basket and a cooler with drinks.
Beatrice asked, “Should we eat first and then walk? Or walk first and then eat?”
Wyatt said, “How about if we eat first and then walk off our lunch? That way we know we have a picnic table in case everyone suddenly decides to come out to the park. Then we can enjoy our walk and those beautiful views.”
They set out their lunch on a picnic table by the sparkling pond surrounded by trees. The sun shone gently on them and there was a small breeze to keep them comfortable and to keep any bugs away.
Wyatt had brought quite a feast. There were deviled eggs, a bowl of mixed fruits, fried chicken, chicken salad mini-sandwiches, and brownies for dessert. Noo-noo settled hopefully at their feet.
“I brought something for you, Noo-noo,” said Beatrice, reaching into her bag. The little dog wagged her nubbin of a tail as she saw the dog food coming out.
“Just so she isn’t desperate to eat our food,” said Beatrice with a laugh. “She’s basically a stomach with feet.”
“A very svelte stomach, though,” said Wyatt grinning. “I’m not sure where it all goes.”
“Noo-noo appreciates the compliment and hopes that her owner is paying attention! I thought she might have put on a pound or two,” said Beatrice. She pulled out a drumstick. “So how was your conference?”
“It went well. I was a little nervous, as always, because I was giving a speech for one of the sessions,” admitted Wyatt.
Beatrice’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? But all you do is public speaking. Well, not all you do, but a great deal of it. You’re speaking at the pulpit or at a covered-dish-supper or at a wedding or a funeral. And you’re very, very good at it.”
Wyatt smiled at her. “Thanks for that. Somehow, when I’m speaking in front of a group of other ministers, especially a large group of other ministers, I still get nervous. I solved the problem by getting there early, making sure the microphone and the slideshow worked, and greeting everyone as they came in. It put me more at ease.”
“That’s a good way to do it,” agreed Beatrice. “And I’m sure you had a great presentation—you always put so much effort into everything you do.”
They sat in a contented silence for a minute, watching the trees sway gently in the breeze. A few geese landed into the pond with barely a ripple. Noo-noo munched away below them.
Beatrice asked curiously, “Out of curiosity, where do you see yourself in a few years? Doing more speaking at conferences? Retiring? Continuing at the church? Any dreams for your future?”
Wyatt hesitated and then said lightly, “I haven’t completely decided yet. There will probably be a few considerations I’d need to keep in mind.”
“Oh, goodness, I know what you mean. When I was looking at retirement from the art museum, there was so much to consider it was overwhelming! Did I have enough to live on? Did I want to live in Atlanta or live near Piper? What about healthcare? Did I want to downsize into a smaller place?” Beatrice shook her head ruefully.
She was about to go on to say that all life changes were like that. Beatrice thought about mentioning Piper’s proposal to Wyatt, but then she stopped herself. She had no doubt that Wyatt would be completely discreet—that, after all, was a big part of his job as a minister. But part of her thought that no one else really needed to know about the proposal before Piper herself did. And if Meadow could keep a secret—even though she was looking like she was about to pop under the weight of keeping it—then Beatrice could, too.
Fortunately, Wyatt was talking and didn’t seem to notice her dilemma.
“Do you have any dreams for your future, Beatrice?” he asked.
Beatrice gave a short laugh. “Right now, the dreams all entail spending a quiet afternoon in my hammock with an excellent book, a glass of white wine, and Noo-noo snoring beside me.”
Wyatt grinned at her. “That’s pretty much the impossible dream, isn’t it?”
“It might as well be! Not only do I get foiled by Meadow and quilting obligations, but I really think I’m my own worst enemy. I have a hard time relaxing.”
They spent the next thirty minutes finishing the delicious lunch and talking about their favorite books now and their favorite books growing up. Beatrice was pleased to find that she and Wyatt had lots in common with their reading.
Noo-noo was asleep on her back with her feet in the air, giving Wyatt and Beatrice something to chuckle over.
“We should go on our walk or else we’ll end up sacked out like Noo-noo,” said Beatrice wryly as they threw away their trash, put away the remaining food, and headed for the trail.
“Do you want to take a stroll around the pond first?” asked Beatrice. “The trail isn’t exactly strenuous, but maybe I should still work up to it after all I ate.”
“Besides, the pond is beautiful today with the sun and clouds reflecting in the water. Good idea,” said Wyatt.
The path next to the pond took them through some wooded areas. The park had been designated a wildlife habitat. There were birdfeeders, birdbaths, and birdhouses scattered through the park. It was quiet there still, with a lone fisherman on the other side of the pond.
They were chatting lightly, Noo-noo keeping a peppy pace for the walk, despite all that she’d eaten. But the corgi stopped short suddenly, staring into the woods ahead with concern.
“Something wrong, Noo-noo?” asked Wyatt, frowning. “Is it just a squirrel or something?”
“She wouldn’t be upset over a squirrel,” said Beatrice. “Maybe there’s a stray dog in there. That would give her pause. Should we hold back?” The idea of tangling with a stray wasn’t very appealing.
“But I’m not hearing any leaves rustling,” said Wyatt.
Beatrice prompted Noo-noo to go and she moved ahead. Now she was straining at the leash, wanting to show them something or find out more about something.
“Is that something there? On the ground ahead?” asked Beatrice suddenly. She tightened her grip on the leash to make sure Noo-noo didn’t get too close.
They approached a spot in the strip of woods between the path and the pond. There was a birdhouse there and a nearby birdfeeder. And, lying crumpled forward on the ground was a woman’s body.